Dem Rep Says He Benefitted From Being Linked With Pot In Election

Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO), the Colorado congressman who's perhaps the leading voice for marijuana legalization on Capitol Hill, said earlier this week that his association with pot benefitted him in his re-election bid last year.

Along with Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Polis was visiting a soon-to-be-open marijuana dispensary in Washington, D.C. when he reflected on his 2012 campaign. Polis, of course, was on the same ballot as a proposed amendment to Colorado's constitution to legalize marijuana for recreational use that ultimately passed. In fact, the pot amendment outperformed both Polis and President Barack Obama in Colorado.

“My campaign headquarters last summer we shared [a building] with a dispensary,” Polis told Blumenauer in front of a half dozen Hill staffers, marijuana advocates, and center employees gathered in the almost completely-barren shop room. “You could see the sign, it was like: ‘Marijuana, Jared Polis.’ Marijuana outperformed me by 10 points, so it was a great association for me.”